Under standing the culture

  1. Alcuin of York- head of the Palatine school established by Charlemagne at Aachen, introduced the traditions of Anglo-Saxon humanism into western Europe. 

 

  1. Francis Bacon-. Inductive reasoning, scientist who codified the scientific method 

 

  1. Krishna Mohan Bannerjee- was a 19th-century Indian thinker who attempted to rethink Hindu philosophy, religion and ethics in response to the stimulus of Christian ideas. 

 

  1. Robert Boyle- was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor, father of modern chemistry.   

 

  1. Francis Collins- is an American physician-scientist who discovered the genes associated with a number of diseases and led the Human Genome Project. 

 

  1. St. Eligius- purchased slaves to give them their freedom 

 

  1. John Locke- was an English philosopher who based his beliefs on human rights on biblical creation. 

 

  1. Shi Meiyu- was a Doctor of Medicine who graduated from the University of Michigan, she made foot binding illegal. 

  1. Thomas Perceval- English physician, health reformer, ethicist and author who wrote an early code of medical ethics.  Created the field of occupational therapy.

  1. Benjamin Rush- was an American revolutionary, a Founding Father of the United States and signatory to the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and a civic leader in Philadelphia, where he was a physician, politician, social reformer, humanitarian, educator, and the founder of Dickinson College father of American public education.  

 

  1. Tsuda Umeko- was a Japanese educator who helped Japanese girls secure education. 

  1. Josiah Wedgewood- was an English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist. Founding the Wedgwood company in 1759, he developed improved pottery bodies by systematic and experimentation and was the leader in the industrialization of the manufacture of European pottery. He used his fortune to oppose slavery.

 

  1. Appeal to Authority- when the strength of an argument is based on an illegitimate authority. 

 

  1. Appeal to ignorance- is a logical fallacy that occurs when someone claims a proposition is true or false because it hasn't been proven otherwise. 

 

  1. Appeal to Pity- is a fallacy in which someone tries to win support for an argument or idea by exploiting one's opponent's feelings of pity or guilt. 

 

  1. Attacking the Motive- is a fallacy that occurs when someone dismisses a claim based on the motivations or purpose of the person making the claim, rather than the claim itself.   

 

  1. Bandwagon- used in reference to an activity, cause, etc. that is currently fashionable or popular and attracting increasing support. 

 

  1. Equivocation- is a logical fallacy that occurs when a key term or phrase in an argument has different meanings in different parts of the argument. 

 

  1. Fallacy of Division- is a logical fallacy that occurs when someone assumes that a characteristic of a whole is also true for its parts. 

 

  1. Hasty Generalization- is a logical fallacy that occurs when a claim is made about a group based on a small or unrepresentative sample of that group.   

 

  1. Slippery Slope- is a logical fallacy that occurs when someone argues that a small action will lead to a series of negative consequences that are difficult to stop. 

 

  1. Weak Analogy - is a fallacy that occurs when someone compares two things that aren't similar enough to support a conclusion. 

 

  1. Five-thousand-year leap - explores the Founding Fathers' principles for success and how they created a 5,000-year leap in freedom, prosperity, and progress. 

 

  1. Metaphysics- the branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space. Study of ultimate reality

 

  1. Ecumenism- is the idea that Christians from different denominations should work together to promote unity and closer relationships among their churches.   

 

  1. Shane Claiborne- is an American evangelical Christian and founder, an author and organizational leader. No allegiance to earthly kingdom but full allegiance to the kingdom of God.

 

  1. Walter Rauschenbusch teachings- was a theologian and social reformer who taught that Christianity should be used to improve the lives of all people. Jesus as a revolutionary, The Kingdom of God, Social Gospel, Christian values, and Biblical criticism.  

 

  1. Dwight L Moody quote- “I look at this world as a wrecked vessel, God gave me a lifeboat and told me to save all I can.” 

 

  1. Fundamentalism is a response to what? – modernism, Darwinism, and liberalism.  

 

  1. Who founded moral majority- Jerry Falwell 

 

 

  1. Who helped make slavery illegal in England- William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, Granville Sharpe, Olaudah Equiano, Ottobah Cuguano, Mary Prince, Samuel Lucas, Lord Mansfield. 

 

  1. Author of Christ and Culture- H. Richard Niebuhr. 

 

  1. “Sound Doctrine and Sound Practice- Sound doctrine is orthodoxy and sound practice is orthopraxy 

 

  1. William of Ockham argued biblically that people's rights ought to be grounded in what actually exists, disputing what previously dominant idea? Theory of Forms 

 

  1. Who founded the brethren of the Common Life? - Geert Groote 

 

  1. What do Harvard, Princeton, and Yale Universities have in common?  - They were all founded as Christian Universities  

 

  1. If cultural engagement is to be long-term, What questions should we ask ourselves? - Can what we are doing now be built upon by others in later generations? 

  

  1. In what way did the Hebrew account of Yahweh differentiate him from other ancient gods?  - Yahweh is personal while other accounts are not. 

 

  1. Gensis 1:28: 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 

 

  1. Genesis 3:22 “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever” 

 

  1. Revelation 21:1 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” 

 

  1. What is a worldview – The lens through which one sees the world, the beliefs that shape how they live. A mental map that helps us interpret life.

 

  1. What is social gospel: a Protestant movement that applied Christian ethics to social issues, such as poverty, economic inequality, and child labor. More community service based gospel.

 

  1. What is evangelicalism: the spreading of the Christian gospel by public preaching or personal witness. Salvation by faith through grace.

 

  1. What is the Moral Majority: American political organization that was founded in 1979 by Jerry Falwell, to advance conservative social values. 

 

  1. What is Narcissism: - The love of or the obsession with oneself; self-centeredness. 

 

  1. what are Cultural Anthropologists - a scholar who studies human culture, beliefs, and practices, and how people organize their societies.

 

  1. Who is Samuel Wilberforce - William Wilberforce’s third son. The bishop of Oxford who gave a speech in Parliament about abolishing slavery. Exposed the connection between the price of sugar and slavery.

 

  1. What are artifacts: Any man-made thing, both tangible and intangible that is being used as a historical reference. 

 

  1. What are beliefs: - Any idea that a person or group holds as a common understanding or conviction. 

  1.  What is the Benedict Option – the belief that Christians should remove themselves from culture and establish alternative communities to separate themselves from the sinfulness of human culture.

  1. . What is Secularization - The movement of a culture away from religious identification and values as religion loses cultural relevance and significance. 

  1. Who is Francis Schaeffer? Francis Schaeffer (1912–1984) was a Presbyterian pastor and evangelical theologian from the United States. He established the l’abri .

  1. What is St Augustine write in defense of Christianity: The City of God 

  1. What are human rights: - the basic rights and freedoms that all people have from birth until death, regardless of their background or circumstances.

  1. What is Suttee – the burning of Indian wives on their husband’s funeral pyre 

  1. Who is William Carey – missionary to India, helped suttee to be abolished 

  1. What is patronage – doing good for the poor to only be acknowledged for them.

  1. Sir Isaac Newton writings – wrote more theology than physics

  1. What is Positivism - the idea that sensory experience, interpreted through logical thinking, forms the only basis for knowledge 

  1. Postmodernism – The belief that all truth is relative, and that there is no objective, universal truth 

  1. Passive – Not working to further a cause of help change something, sitting back and letting life happen to you 

  1. Proactive – actively attempting to make a difference, using time and resources to further a cause. 

  1. Cultural Literacy – the knowledge and understanding of a culture that enables individuals to engage and influence that culture 

  1. What must we love – we must love the culture to change it 

  1. Cultural texts- We need to contemplate the cultural texts through which we absorb popular culture, such as books and movies; contemplating cultural texts: Behind: thinking about how something is communicated. How does it get your attention, by quality? In: what is the content of the message? In front: thinks about where it is headed if you actually live it out 

Who are Inklings – Christian group of writers and authors like Tolkien and Lewis 

What is District Bonhoffer famous quote? “to not act is to act.”

What is Gnosticism? - One Supreme god who created the world through multiple processes of emanation 

What temptations do Christians face when they do not take culture seriously? They risk becoming like the culture that they are trying to change 

What is the mark of a trivial culture? - you don’t care, and you don’t care that you don’t care 

What is Culture – the way of life for a group of people; the culmination of human communication and willful activity in a particular civilization 

How have beliefs and not just actions enabled Christians to change the world?: - Beliefs fuel actions. Without these beliefs, the motivation to do the good deeds would not be there 

Why has the mortality rate among Christians historically been so high during times of epidemics? – Christians have been the ones who usually go and administer aid and help to those who are sick. 

How do the three aspects of the biblical metanarrative affect cultural engagement for Christians? 

1) creation: Taken together, the facets of the Biblical account of creation provide a strong framework for cultural engagement. Bearing God's image, we have a spiritual capacity to create and relate. We can also use our words to bring ideas into being. 
2) the fall: Because of the fall, humanity's ideas about how to save ourselves are part of the problem, not part of the solution. Human efforts to create culture have often led to arrogance and violence. Ephesians tells us to put on God's armor which enables us stand firm as God's image-bearers 
3) redemption: Breaks sin's grip on world, we (as redeemed image-bearers) have the opportunity to break sin's grip by speaking the truth of God's good news in our culture. Redemption through Jesus Christ protects what is good, fixes what is broken, stops what is evil, and contributes to what is missing.